Oh Brother Where Art Thou
by Stixer111
Summary: Convinced that his brother hates him, Taka decides that Yagi will be his big brother now.


_**A/N- Anon on tumblr asked:**_ _ **Hi! Could you do a fic where Taka is looking for a "new" big brother because he feels like Hayato doesn't like him, (he's also kind of jealous of Kotaro and Ryuu's relationship).**_

 _ **Oh boy I've been wanting to look into this relationship for a while now! This took a little longer than expected but I hope it's good!**_

* * *

Taka was certain his brother hated him. He was always hitting him and calling him stupid and annoying, and he never hugged him close or played with him. Why couldn't he have a brother like Ryu-ni? He was always nice to Kotaro, and was always willing to join in their games at the day care. What Taka needed was a new brother. Ryu-ni already has Kotaro, and Nezu-ni has so many brothers that he probably didn't want another. Even that weird ni-chan who turns red whenever he talks to Ryu-ni already has a little sister. That left Yagi-ni. He didn't think Yagi-ni has any younger siblings, and he was always really nice to the kids in the day care, even if it was kinda scary when blood started coming out of his nose. Maybe he wouldn't mind having Taka as a little brother.

XXX

"Hey Yagi-ni!" Taka yelled, running towards the older boy with a drawing clutched in his tiny hands "I made you a picture!"

Tomoya turned from his conversation with Nezu and knelt down to talk to the toddler.

"That's great Taka-kun! What did you draw?" he asked, squinting at the scribbles of colour on the paper.

"It's me and you fighting a giant!"

"Oh so it is! Thank you!"

Yagi slipped the paper into his pocket and smiled at Taka, who beamed in response before running away.

"What was that about?" asked Nezu, handing his friend a tissue to stem the inevitable nosebleed.

"Beats me, but it was really cute, wasn't it Chuukichi?"

XXX

Usaida watched in confusion as Taka pulled a bemused Yagi towards the patch of interesting flowers he'd spotted on their walk. Lately the toddler had been clinging to the teen in a way that was both adorable and mildly concerning. He watched as Yagi listened to whatever Taka was excitedly babbling about. The teen nodded along with a small smile, before patting the younger boy on his head and sending him back to his friends.

With a casual survey of the area, Usaida noticed Nezu standing a short distance away. The quiet teen hadn't had to drag his friend away from the children as often recently. It seemed that Yagi's increased exposure to their collective adorableness had reduced his tendency to nosebleed. Further away Kamitani was helping Ryu manage the other children, ignoring the antics of his brother. Ignoring them a little too well actually. He didn't even turn to acknowledge him, seemingly putting all his energy into pulling the twins off an already overwhelmed Ryu. Taka for his part was equally indifferent towards his brother, not once pestering him in any way.

Oh. So that was how it was. Usaida smiled to himself. This would be interesting.

XXX

The kids had just finished having an afternoon snack, and Kashima, Hayato, and Usaida were cleaning up their mess. Yagi chose that moment to poke his head into the day care room.

"Hi everyone!" he called.

"Yagi-ni, play ranger 5 with us!" Taka shouted, waving his sword in excitement.

Yagi laughed. "Okay! I'm the monster, right!" He curved his hands into claws and growled, to the delight of all the children.

Hayato clenched his fist, causing the contents of the half-empty juice box he was holding to spew all over his hands. Kashima patted his shoulder sympathetically. His friend had figured out what was going on pretty quickly, but nothing he said could convince Hayato to talk to his brother. Both the boys had a stubborn streak a mile long.

"If he wants that pervert as a brother let him have it." Hayato growled, wiping his hands on his apron.

"In all fairness to Yagi, he's really toned down the creepiness." said Usaida, tossing the boy a towel so he could wipe the juice off the floor. Hayato glared at him, and the man laughed and held his hands up in surrender.

"You could just talk to him, Kamitani." said Kashima reasonably.

"I'd rather die."

"You could get a role in Kamatsuka-sensei's next play" said Usaida, rolling his eyes at the boy's dramatics.

Kashima stifled a snort in his sleeve, and Hayato chucked the now empty juice box at him, not noticing that a small pair of eyes flick towards him from the direction of the children's play before quickly darting away.

XXX

Ryu was tidying up the room at the end of the day when he heard wailing. Taka was clinging to Yagi's leg and screaming at the top of his lungs at an exasperated Kamitani.

"I DON'T WANNA GO HOME WI YOU! I WANN STAY WITH YAGI-NI!"

"Tough, we're going home now. The old lady is waiting."

Kamitani reached down and detached the screaming toddler from Yagi's trouser leg and hefted him over his shoulder.

"See you, Kashima."

"Sure."

Kamitani gave Yagi a curt nod and walked out of the room with a blubbering Taka beating his fists against his back. Ryu shook his head with a sigh.

"They really need to sort themselves out." Yagi said thoughtfully.

Ryu stared at him, and he laughed.

"I figured out what was going on a while back. It's been a lot of fun being Taka's big brother, but I think he misses Kamitani, don't you?"

"I think Kamitani misses him too."

XXX

The babysitters club learned fairly quickly that when the weather was good, the best way to deal with the kids was to take them outside and let them run wild. Especially on a day like today when the Nezu siblings joined the rambunctious toddlers. The little group had found a clearing edged by broad-branched trees that had plenty of space to run around and was a safe distance from any of the sports fields for the children to play.

Taka had taken the low hanging branches as a challenge and was trying to climb one of the great trees that offered them shade. Kichi and Suekicchi, keeping in mind Ryu's frantic warnings to _be careful_ , were teaching the other little boys how to play soccer. Kirin, Kyouko, and baby Midori were having a 'picnic' under the tree that wasn't occupied by the younger Kamitani. This left the students and Usaida relatively free to keep a general eye on things. Yagi was quickly pulled into the picnic with the girls, and Ryu ended up helping with soccer practice because he couldn't resist Kotaro's hopeful eyes. Hayato was about to join him, when some instinct made him look up, just in time to see Taka overbalance on the branch he was trying to climb and topple backwards.

Hayato couldn't see anything except for the way his baby brother seemed to be falling in slow motion. He didn't think, just rushed forward and slid across the grass, managing to catch Taka before he hit the ground. He could make out panicked shouting (Ryu) and general commotion (everyone else) from behind him, but he only had eyes for Taka, who's own eyes were slowly filling with tears. Hayato pulled him close, and Taka buried his face in his chest.

"You idiot." he scolded, and if his voice broke a little, well, anyone who heard would keep their mouths shut. For their own good. "You could have gotten hurt. Don't do that again."

"I missed you Aniki! I sowwy!" Taka blubbered into his chest, and Hayato just tightened his arms around him.

Ryu watched the scene in front of him and almost fainted in relief. And not just because Taka was unharmed.

"I think we should just leave them be." Nezu said from behind him.

"I agree." said Ryu, grabbing Usaida's arm to keep him from reaching for the camera. He had a feeling Nezu was doing the same for Yagi, and offered the other boy a tissue without looking back. He smiled at Yagi's stuffy thanks and coerced the others into resuming their games. Things would be back to normal soon.

* * *

 _ **A/N- So I realize that I could have made this one HayaRyuu as well, but honestly the Kamitani brothers' relationship is the one that most closely resembles my relationship with my younger brother and I kind of wanted to honour that. Hayato's probably going to see Taka as a three year old even when the kid enters high school, no matter how much he acts like he couldn't care less about him.**_

 _ **As always, I'm open to prompts, though it may take some time for me to get to them, since my inbox is slowly filling up! I'm bards-against-hoomanity on tumblr. I won't write anything that's ships an adult with a minor (I don't care what the age of consent is in Japan) or a similar age gap (i.e. teen with child), and I'm very uncomfortable writing smut, but anything else is good to go.**_


End file.
